17th January 2020A Message from the Head...I am thrilled to finally be able to share with everyone the first exciting building project at Gateways following our move to co-education. The picture above is an artist’s impression of our new open plan art studio in respect of which we will be breaking ground in February! Please click on the picture itself to see a larger image. This project had to be kept top secret during the funding and planning phases but, having achieved success with both of those elements, it is now full steam ahead to the implementation phase. We plan to have this facility in use by the beginning of the summer term this year and, in the short term it will alleviate the tight squeeze in Prep by housing all Prep Art classes as well as doubling-up as Form Room for one lucky Prep class! In the longer term, the resource will become a truly whole school facility but of course it will still be able to be used by High School in the meantime during times when there is not a Prep art class taking place. It has been good to dip a toe in the water of the planning arena too, given some of the other exciting plans we have and of course, as soon as I can share news of these with you, I most certainly will! Following the announcement regarding Russian clubs last week, I am delighted to announce yet another new High School club in the form of an Italian Club. This club will be run by Sabrina Bondi (L6th) and starts on Monday next week. Well done to Mr DuBose who was the first to respond last week to say that the Russian text translated to “We are learning Russian!”. There is no prize sadly but thank you all for your enthusiastic responses! A rather nice Burberry umbrella has been left behind in our school Reception area. If anyone has lost such an item I would be very happy to return it to them if they are able to describe it to me. Email me here to do so. Have great weekend everyone. - Dr Tracy Johnson - Children's Mental Health Week w/c 3 Feb 2020This year we will be supporting the "Inside Out Day" campaign for Children's Mental Health Awareness Week and encouraging pupils (and staff) to wear an item of clothing "Inside Out" as a way of making us all stop and think about how someone may look fine on the outside but inside they may be feeling sad or worried. The first ever Inside Out Day for Children’s Mental Health Week will take place this year during Children’s Mental Health Week on Thursday 6 February. The aim of Inside Out Day is to remind everyone to always be kind and think of others as no one knows how another person may be feeling. This simple premise should hopefully be a meaningful way to engage pupils in discussions around emotional well-being. Inside Out Day is being launched in memory of Jenny Jackson, who suffered with mental health issues and sadly took her own life a few months after her 40th birthday, four years ago. The idea was the brainchild of Jenny’s sister, Johanna Novick, and together with her other two sisters, Julie Borlant and Janie Jackson-Spillman they are asking schools, mental health charities and anyone with an interest in tackling our current society’s mental health crisis to get on board and support this initiative. Johanna Novick said: “Mental health is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. Social media can often disguise reality making everyone
else look like they’re happy and leading wonderful lives, even when they’re not. We just want to let children know it’s ok not to be ok and that no-one is perfect (even though they may look it)." Netball Success for PoppyHuge congratulations to Upper 4 pupil Poppy Cavanagh on her selection for the Leeds District U14 netball squad. Poppy took place in the trials back in November and recently found out she'd made the team! Well done Poppy and we hope to hear more about your sporting achievements. Gateways PFAMothers Day Afternoon Tea The next PFA event is the Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea on Thursday 19th March. We will be selling tickets to this event after the February half term. More information to follow soon... Quick Links To Popular ContentArticles from ... |